Sara Melendez

About Sara Melendez

Sara is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with over nine years of extensive experience in project management and coordination. She has dedicated her career to improving efficiency and delivering successful outcomes for public sector clients including healthcare and child welfare agencies across more than seven states. Sara has effectively led teams on single and multi-project portfolios, managing contract oversight, budget monitoring, and team onboarding to ensure that projects remain on budget and within scope. In addition to her project management skills, she has honed her expertise in Independent Verification and Validation (IV & V), ensuring compliance with state contracts and federal guidelines.

Experience

1. Consultant

   Public Consulting Group

   Sep 2024 — Present

   Project Manager with extensive experience supporting large-scale Medicaid, child support, and human services system modernization initiatives for state agencies. Currently serving as Project Manager for the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Enterprise Project Management Office, supporting implementation of the CMS Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services Final Rule (CMS-2442-F). Coordinates cross-departmental efforts across DHCS and four sister agencies to drive compliance with federal requirements, including stakeholder engagement, grievance and incident management systems, and payment transparency initiatives. Leads cross-functional teams, manages project plans, budgets, risks, and milestones, and tracks seven workstreams and 20 compliance milestones using Jira while serving as a primary liaison to internal and external stakeholders.Previously served as IV & V Project Manager for Alaska Child Support Enforcement Division’s Child Support Modernization Project, overseeing independent verification and validation for the replacement of a legacy system with a COTS solution. Led delivery of quarterly IV & V assessments, executive reporting, risk mitigation strategies, and stakeholder interviews to support successful project execution.Additional experience includes IV & V Analyst and Project Coordinator roles for the Arizona Department of Economic Security ATLAS Replacement Project, evaluating vendor deliverables, contract compliance, and risk mitigation for a system supporting approximately active child support cases. Also served as Project Manager for Minnesota DHS MMIS Modernization and Eligibility & Enrollment projects, leading a team of consultants overseeing multiple portfolio initiatives, assessing state and vendor processes, and identifying project and portfolio-level risks through continuous IV & V activities.

Education

• East High School

  Diploma

  2006 — 2009

• University of Northern Colorado

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Recreation, Tourism, and Hospitality

  2009 — 2013

Skills

• Event Planning
• Customer Service
• Credentialing
• Operating Budgets
• Advertising
• Decoration
• Marketing
• Events Coordination
• Social Media Marketing
• Event Management
• Non-Profit Volunteer
• Event Designing
• Microsoft Excel
• Fundraising
• Telephone Skills
• Volunteer Management
• Management
• Dedication to Continuous Improvement
• Festivals
• Process Scheduler
• Facebook
• Work Ethic
• Recruiting
• Multicultural Sensitivity/Awareness
• Staff Development
• Venue Management
• Community Outreach
• Microsoft Office
• Social Networking
• Learning Quickly
• Sponsorship
• Social Media
• Project Management
• Leadership
• Public Relations
• Public Speaking
• Special Events Coordination
• Open Minded
• Event Producing
• Promotions